AREA DAIRY FARMS PRODUCE THE HIGHEST QUALITY MILK AND PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
DAIRY FARMERS FROM AROUND THE STATE gathered in Green Bay Jan. 15-16 for “Dairy Strong – Dairy’s Path Forward: Policies. Practice. Priorities.”
We have the ‘Voice of Milk’ organization as part of our Dairy Business Association, along with Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative and Minnesota Milk which all focus on policy,” Lauren Brey, managing director of Farmers for Sustainable Food, said. “Those organizations focus on policy; DBA and Minnesota Milk at the state capitals while Edge represents over 800 dairy farmers in the Midwest at the federal level.” Farmers for Sustainable food was founded in 2016 by the DBA and Edge in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin as a way to support DBA members in sustainable agriculture.“ We started a non-profit that initially met with farmer-led groups,” Brey explained. “We now work with 10 of these groups; nine in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota.”
Those groups are focused on getting farmers together to talk about conservation, to learn from one another and local experts. Ground water contamination is a key topic in eastern Wisconsin along with other environmental challenges in their community and help them document their improvements. “The other component is developing and managing sustainability projects that are focused on farmers and bringing in their supply chain partners. Our resources are our good-will offering to the entire agriculture community. How can we help farmers be in the drivers seat; helping them gather the data, bottle it for what environmental outcomes they’re looking at then helping them understand that information so they can go back and make management decisions that fit their business.”
Brey’s family farm is part of Peninsula Pride Farms which is one of the farmer-led groups that Farmers for Sustainable Food support. They’ve been doing a sustainable food project with us for over four years looking at soil health and water quality, looking at phosphorus load, sediment, etc. and we are seeing that conservation measures being implemented are having a significant impact on improved water quality. Now they see this is working for those who are especially invested it’s re-iterating that this isn’t just making sense on my farm it’s also making environmental sense.”
Duane Ducat is the current president of Farmers for Sustainable Food. He, along with son, Derek, and Dale Bogart own and operate Deer Run Dairy in Kewaunee County, a 3,200 acre farm in southern Kewaunee County have been in the forefront of sustainable farming practices for years.
Duane grew up on the nearby family farm and purchased a neighboring farm starting out with around 80 cows. Duane shared farm life experiences and equipment with his father until his retirement. “We grew to 130 cows, before we built this place,” Duane recalled.“ Dale and I met at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY., His facilities were getting old, and I wanted to get to a free-stall and milking parlor instead of a stall barn. We built this dairy in 2008 with about 800 cows then we put an addition on in 2011 and the final addition was put on 2015 and now we’re milking about 1,800 cows and we have 250 dry cows.” Derek’s position in the operation is managing the cropping and custom harvesting aspects of the farm.
Duane said Deer Run Dairy has always leaned in the direction of sustainable agriculture which is “farming in a way that you are protecting the water and the environment and getting a crop to grow in a positive way in healthy soils and still be profitable,” he explained. “One of the things I look at is when you’re building your soil’s health, it’s going to take a little bit of time; you might not get the highest yield but you’re investing in your soil.”
They began using more environmentally friendly fertilizers and moving toward no-till farming when practical. Deer Run utilizes no-till management and cover crops to prevent soil erosion on most of their land.
“One of the most interesting things we found out is that we can no-till our new seeding into a cover crop biomass and be very successful doing that,” he explained. “One of the issues you have in establishing a hay crop is you would work the ground until you get it as smooth as a baby’s butt, seed down your hay and the rain comes and washes the soil away leaving washouts in the field. With this method of seeding into a cover crop you don’t get this erosion.”
The addition of the large dairy brought about the issue of manure utilization. Large dairy farm operations in Kewaunee County have been at the forefront over groundwater contamination. “At that time the DNR’s preferred method was incorporating it into the soil,” he said. “Over time we’ve been able to work with the agencies and have proven that if you’re in a long-term no-till situation creating increased infiltration you can surface apply manure with the same effect as incorporation as long as you keep your application rates within the soils infiltration capacity.”
Deer Run Dairy now utilizes a digester which turns the manure solids into bedding for the cattle. “When we built this dairy, Dale and I agreed we didn’t want to use sand for bedding material,” he explained. The digester was built in 2011 which produces methane gas that is cleaned and injected into a natural gas pipeline. This is enough energy for about 600 homes. The manure coming out of the digester is put through a screw press removing the manure solid creating a bedding source for the dairy. The liquid portion is stored and then hauled out and spread over the farm’s hayfields during the summer. “It’s been great for us,” he added. “It spreads the work load out so that you’re not challenged to get it all on in the spring and fall. The hay responds great.”
There are two organizations in the region which are promoting and assisting sustainable agriculture.
“Peninsula Pride Farms was formed when there was considerable publicity about dairy farms in Kewaunee County as an answer to that,” Duane recalled. “We were getting a lot of negative publicity and it was not all truthful. We were told about a group called Yahara Pride Farms near Madison. We took a look at that and in March, 2016, we officially started Peninsula Pride Farms which now has more than 60 member farms. One of the biggest things we did is say yes, there’s a problem here and we’re probably part of the problem but we can and that’s our goal. We can have a thriving agricultural community and still have clean water. We’ve been supporting the well testing that’s been going on in the county. I believe we’ve had success in achieving our goals. “We’ve changed the farming landscape.” Another organization is Farmers for Sustainable Food which is a collaborative, industry-supported effort to promote and support farmer-led solutions to today’s environmental challenges according to its website. We are the only collaborative, non-profit organization that provides resources, advocacy, support and empowerment for farmers who are innovating and demonstrating sustainable farming practices during a time of increased interest in agriculture and food origins.
For more information, visit farmersforsustainablefood.com and peninsulapridefarmsinc.org
